| Well, at my school, IB is considered more difficult than AP. I think this is because most kids do not choose to take AP as a "program," and just take selected classes here and there.
In reality, I've found the classes to be pretty similar in terms of difficulty, though I believe that the AP sciences are harder. The other main difference is that IB gives you a whole load of extra work to do so it's somewhat more time-consuming. IB and AP also emphasize different things in each subject, so that's something to consider.
As compared to regular classes, IB/AP classes will be more challenging and require more work. They also generally have the fortunate effect of containing less idiots than normal classes, at least in my experience. |